


Young Hearts Run Free

by SpiderButler



Series: Nights Like These [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 13:22:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5006374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiderButler/pseuds/SpiderButler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Henry gets a girlfriend</p><p>Part 2 of Nights Like These</p>
            </blockquote>





	Young Hearts Run Free

**Author's Note:**

> Title from song of the same name by Candi Staton

The Jolly Roger is quiet tonight, mainly just the regulars, and a group of three (none of them can work out if the woman in the middle is dating the Asian woman to her left or the dark haired man to her right, and bets have been made). Will’s assured Killian he can hold down the fort so that he can take a break- one of Killian’s oldest friends, Tink (Tinkerbell technically, but she refuses to be known by a name that ‘sounds like a bloody fairy’) has a birthday coming up, and Killian is throwing her a surprise party in the pub. What he hadn’t anticipated though, was the amount of work that went into it, arranging with their other friends and talking to the bakery about her cake, and the many other aspects of throwing a party. When he wasn’t working he was on the phone, and Will had actually confiscated the device to make sure that Killian rested. 

Emma slides into the booth, grinning at him. “Can this be? Is Killian Jones _actually relaxing?_ ” 

He mock-laughs at her, but a matching grin makes its way onto his face. “Will has my phone.” 

“Ah, so not voluntarily then.” Emma giggles (Killian’s favorite sound, Emma’s least favorite. “I don’t _giggle.”_ She’ll protest). “I’ll leave you to sulk then.” 

He grabs her hand as she begins to rise, stopping her from leaving. “Your presence alone, love, is my greatest stress reliever.” 

She blushes, but it doesn’t stop her from leaning forward slightly (just enough that Killian can _almost_ see down her shirt) to whisper huskily. “I can think of another good stress reliever.” A hand lands on his knee under the table. “But this one might need a little more privacy.” 

Killian feels a thrill go through his spine, and he opens his mouth to suggest they make a brief exit from the pub when a voice speaks up from just over his shoulder. “Oh my _god._ ” He and Emma both look up to see Henry looking almost _pained_ at overhearing the snippet of conversation. “ _Really?”_  

“Sorry, kid.” Emma laughs, squeezing Killian’s knee and releasing it. She seems to realize at the same time Killian does that Henry is not alone. “Who’s this?” 

“This is Grace.” Henry steps out the way so that Killian can see the girl properly. She has golden brown hair, in waves that remind him a little of Emma’s, and dark eyes. “Who, by the way, you just scarred for life.” The boy finishes. 

Killian can see from the look in Emma’s eyes that she hasn’t missed the lack of explanation either (Henry’s a chatterbox, he’s definitely hiding something), but neither mention it. Emma extends her arm, smiling a little embarrassedly. “Nice to meet you, Grace. Sorry about that.” 

Grace’s smile is a little awkward, but friendly, and she shakes the offered hand. “It’s fine. I’m in highschool, you’d be amazed what I hear.” She shrugs. 

Killian thinks back to his days at school, and what most teenaged boys (himself included) thought of as flirting, and the girls thought of as plain cringe-worthy. God, how Emma saw anything in him back then he’ll never understand. At that moment Grace’s phone begins to ring and she fishes it out of her pocket. She apologizes quickly and steps away to answer it. 

David comes out of the kitchen then, making a beeline for his siblings and Killian. “Killian, Robin wants you to come taste some new recipe he’s working on.” 

Killian nods, and is about to get up, when Grace returns. She smiles at David and introduces herself, and shakes his hand. He raises an impressed eyebrow at Killian and Emma when she turns back to them. 

“Sorry, that was my dad, he wants me home.” 

“No problem, it was lovely to meet you, Grace.” Killian smiles at the girl, and shakes her hand again, and Emma and David do the same. 

“I’ll walk you out,” Henry offers his arm, and all three of the adults make faces at each other behind the pair’s backs. 

It is noticeably later when Henry returns, a grin on his face and a blush on his cheeks. All three stare at him, and he raises an eyebrow so like his siblings that Killian feels a wave of fondness he hasn’t felt since the boy was ten and he first met David and by extension Emma. “What?” 

“Nothing.” Emma shrugs, and Henry gives them a weird look and walks over to the bar, where Regina has just settled herself. 

“Emma-“ David begins, and Emma already has her phone out. 

“On it.” She sets off across the floor, and Killian and David head over to the kitchen. “Graham? Hi, I was wondering…” her voice drifts off. 

“Don’t you think having the cops check her out is a bit much?” 

“Graham’s not going to arrest her, he’ll just tell Emma a little background information.” 

Killian shakes his head at his best mate, pushing the door to the kitchen open.

 

* * *

 

They don’t see Grace again until about two weeks later. 

This time it’s the middle of the day, and she and Henry come strolling in together. Killian catches Mary Margaret’s eye across the room, and she shrugs. When the pair have made it to the bar, Killian leans against it, raising a suspicious eyebrow at them. “Don’t you two have school?” 

“We finished early.” Henry shrugs. Killian remains suspicious, and makes a mental note to check (he’s no stranger to sneaking out of school, some of his best memories with Emma result from it) (Also some of David’s most disapproving older brother looks). “We thought we’d come here for lunch.” 

“Well, actually, _I_ suggested we come here for lunch, Henry wasn’t so eager.”

“And here I thought you enjoyed my company, lad.” Killian feigns pain, and Henry rolls his eyes, but laughs. Killian adds to his mental note to find out why the lad was so resistant to coming to the pub. Normally he’s more than eager. 

Ruby steps out of the kitchen then, a tray balanced in one hand. “Hi guys.” She smiles at the two. “You must be Grace. I’m Ruby.” 

“Nice to meet you.” Grace is as polite as she was last time, and Ruby’s smile gets wider. 

“Nice job.” She stage-whispers to Henry, ruffling his hair, and Henry blushes like a tomato as she walks away. 

“Remind me to find some really embarrassing story to tell Victor tonight.” Henry says to Killian. 

“I’ve got plenty of those.” It’s Emma who speaks this time, also emerging from the kitchen. “But I’ve also got a lot about you, so you better be extra nice if you want to keep me on your side.” 

Henry glares at her, and gets his hair ruffled again as his sister grabs some glasses from behind the bar, filling them up with beer, and adding them to the tray she’d placed on the bar. She kisses Killian’s cheek as she leaves. Henry groans and rolls his eyes, and Grace laughs. 

“So, what do you guys want?” 

When the pair have requested their meals, and situated themselves at a table as far away from Henry’s family as physically possible (Killian’s pretty sure Henry actually tried to move the table), Emma returns to the bar, leaning against it as they both observe the pair. 

“She’s Jefferson’s daughter, the one who owns the travel agency around the corner. Graham said he’d seen her and Henry around town a few times, and they seemed pretty cozy.” 

“Well well, it seems Henry’s growing up.” 

Mary Margaret approaches them then, sliding onto a barstool. “They’re definitely together. They were talking about a date when I passed, and Grace asked him when he was going to tell us about her.” 

“We’re not that bad, are we?” Killian asks. The two women look at him, disbelief written across their faces. 

“Killian, you have a habit of dressing like a pirate for kids parties, Ruby constantly talks about sex, Whale will trail off into a lecture about how amazing the body is at any time, Will gets drunk and falls asleep in the weirdest places, me and Mary Margaret are never going to stop teasing him and David will almost definitely try to be his wingman. The only vaguely normal one is Regina, and she’ll grill that girl to the ends of the earth to make sure she’s good for Henry.” 

“Point taken.” 

“Should we ask him about it?” Mary Margaret asks. 

“He clearly doesn’t want us to know for the moment. We should wait until he’s ready to tell us.” Emma says. Killian smiles- he loves how maternal Emma can be towards her brother, but he loves more how she will always support his choices, as long as they don’t lead him into danger. 

“So we just act like we don’t know?” 

“Yeah. But that doesn’t mean we can’t embarrass him. A lot.” 

Killian and Mary Margaret laugh and agree.

 

* * *

 

From then on, Grace becomes a more regular visitor to The Jolly Roger and Emma and Killian, and David and Mary Margaret up the kissing and flirting to astronomical levels. Ruby’s every word is dripping with innuendo, and Robin and Will recount every embarrassing moment Henry has ever experienced. Occasionally Grace’s visits will cross over with those of Whale and Regina, and then the stench of _couple_ is almost too much for even Killian to bare (Regina turned her nose up at first, claiming to be ‘a bit more refined’, but even she had joined in when she’d seen the tomato blush and the determined set of Henry’s jaw when Grace was around). Henry appears to have accepted the challenge wholeheartedly, and refuses to let his family win. Grace seems to find the whole thing highly amusing, and she wins the approval of the group with her ability to keep up with witty responses and fast thinking. Regina tells her one evening that she would make a good lawyer, and Grace blushes and thanks her. 

It’s a few weeks after they first meet her that Grace joins their evening tradition. It’s surprisingly easy for her to slide into the booth between Henry and Mary Margaret and she sips a beer (parental consent has been given- Killian made sure of it) and happily chats away with the group. Killian smiles at how she’s becoming part of the family and thinks he understands why Henry had been so secretive about her. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed (though that wasn’t to say that he was completely awkward-laugh-shy-grin-pink-cheeks free). It was because this little ragtail family of his was just that- his family, and he was as protective of them as anyone else within it. He had worries about bringing her into it, and she had unknowingly been proving herself worthy. Killian’s realization is further affirmed when Henry casually wraps an arm around Grace’s shoulder, the easy affection something the lad had been careful to avoid in the pub. 

Killian knows he isn’t the only one who notices it, the smiles of the people around him around him a mixture of proud and amused (and a little emotional on Emma and David’s part, but both would deny it determinedly if you asked them). 

Henry awkwardly clears his throat, and the conversations in the group trail off as they all turn to look at him.

“Er, I would like to say…” He clears his throat again, the blush on his cheeks making a reappearance (not that it ever really leaves). “Me and Grace are a couple. Like, she’s my girlfriend… and I’m…her… boyfriend… so…” 

Emma smiles at her younger brother and David claps him on the back. “We know.” 

Henry looks at his older brother with a frown. “But…” 

“We all see the yearning looks and doe eyes.” Regina smiles at him. 

“We don’t _yearn_.” Henry says in a voice that sounds a lot like his sister. 

The group laughs and descends into the usual relaxed madness as Will, David and Emma tease Henry, and Ruby makes Grace blush, and Regina and Mary Margaret roll their eyes and tell her to ignore ‘the idiots’. Robin brings the conversation back with a deliberately loud (and incendiary- he’s always been good at starting debates) question to Whale, and Henry shoots him a grateful smile. 

Emma raises her beer bottle and Killian meets it with his own. “Cheers.” 

(Killian finds the young couple a few weeks later kissing in a corner at Tink’s party, and he clears his throat and waggles his eyebrows whilst Grace turns red and Henry’s face conveys ‘dying of mortification’).


End file.
